Pretty and Pink

As this is the first day of summer, Rosé, is the perfect choice for our next meeting which will be July 19th at Ruth's. The specific theme is Old World vs. New World Rosés. NOTE: given the inexpensiveness of most Rosés, our usual price requirements won't apply for this tasting :)

First, a quick background...

Increasingly trendy, Rose sales were up last year in the US by 40%. Lovely, dry Rosé wines can be found from many parts of the wine making world -- Portugal, France, Spain, Canada, Australia and the US. Though Provence is traditionally noted for producing the best (see the July issue of Wine Enthusiast for a great overview, "The Varied Colors of Provence".)

Rosé, a good reason to quit your job?

I like Rosé as much as any one else, but not sure if I'd devote a year to finding one. A British couple did just and went on a quest to find the palest rosé in France. They visit the main rosé-producng areas in France: Champagne, the Loire, the Jura, Bordeaux, Dordogne, the Rhône, Provence, Languedoc and Corsica. They then penned a book, Extremely Pale Rose, A Very French Adventure, and a blog about their journey. Okay, I'm sold... sounds like an incredibly fun road trip.

According to French lore, a rosé should be the pink of a baby's skin. Though I've seen them in a number of hues and think it really depends on the varietals used and the amount of skin contact time.

Rosés are made from red grapes which following crush have a short period of contact between the skins and the juice. The grapes are then pressed, and the skins discarded, (rather than left in contact throughout fermentation as with red wine making.)

White Zin - Appalled to Aghast?

The Mateus of the US, White Zinfandel, is definitely not a Rosé, but rather a sickly sweet, low alcohol wine that is mass produced in California. It is the byproduct of "bleeding" or saignee - removing some of the fluid from a red Zinfandel to give it more color and flavor. The removed juice is then fermented separately, producing the "Rosé" as a byproduct of the red wine. For a surprisingly good defence of this wine style check out the New York Times wine blog "The Pour".

Rosé: the World's Most Versatile WineAmazingly, someone has written an entire wine book on the topic of Rose, which they claim is the "World's Most Versatile Wine". Since it can be done dry, offdry, sparkling, and made from any number of grapes, it certainly should be versatile. And it does indeed pair well with a large number of dishes, particularly shellfish. Some suggestions: pink fishes, lobster, calamari, fruit tarts, white cakes, and white cheeses to name a few...